308 OATS AND PIGS OF THE COUNTRY. 



which was necessary to bring this most important art to 

 speedy perfection. It may be partly conceit, but it is 

 chiefly ignorance, which has led many young persons, 

 slightly acquainted with chemistry, to propagate crude 

 notions as to the omnipotence of chemistry, and of the 

 researches of the laboratory, in determining all difficult, 

 doubtful, or disputed questions in practical agriculture. 

 The longer a cautious and safe man lives, the less will 

 he value extemporaneous opinions on matters which fall 

 within the range of what may properly be called scien- 

 tific agriculture — and the wider will appear the range of 

 knowledge, theoretical and practical, which is necessary 

 to the accurate solution, even of what some look upon as 

 simple and superficial questions. 



Among the crops which, in Lower Canada, have 

 taken the place of the formerly abundant wheat, the 

 oat is one of the most important. I did not learn what 

 weight they here average per bushel, but the price, 

 during the last year, has never exceeded 14d. currency 

 per bushel. The Canadian farmer is content to sell his 

 oats for this price, and to buy a barrel of pork with the 

 proceeds, rather than expend his surplus grain and time 

 in feeding his own pig for his own family, and making 

 manure for his farm at the same time. 



I have spoken of the long-limbed pigs of the French 

 settlers in Madawaska. The pigs of this district, like 

 their masters, are full cousins-german to those which 

 inhabit the Upper St John. The snout and the legs, 

 as they say here, run a race for length. The native 

 cattle are also poor, and the starvation-limit system of 

 feeding, generally practised a century ago in Scotland, 

 is still in full force in colder Canada. It is to be hoped 

 that the cattle-shows, which are now promoted by local 

 societies, and encouraged by legislative grants, may be 

 the means of gradually introducing a better system of 

 feeding, with more profitable breeds of stock. 



